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E-mail letters, July 29, 2011

Over the past several months Bill Grant has praised President Obama and Ken Salazar for their handling of the Gulf oil spill, removing some areas in Utah from energy exploration. They handled the spill like the amateurs that they are. We can’t drill, but we are working toward energy independence.

We heard that from Jimmy Carter, the second most inept President that we have had. Obama moved him into second place. Is that the “change” Barack talked about?

Bill’s praise of “Green” energy is more about perception than reality. We are years away from making solar and wind a real viable replacement for fossil fuels. Yes, we need to work on these “green” energy items with research, but be honest about the cost and how long it could be before they will really supply enough to make an impact. Remember you can’t have “green” energy without mining for the rare earth elements that are needed to produce the wind generators and solar panels. The wind power in Colorado isn’t that effective because when they quit generating power, the gas fired generators restart. The restarting of these generators causes more pollution than what was saved by using the wind power, so the environment would be better off just starting these generators once and leaving them run. Real savings from windmills? Besides, they are ugly and have to be made in China because they have the rare earth elements to build them.

Agriculture uses a lot of fossil fuels to produce your food supply and there aren’t any solar/wind-powered tractors etc., on the way to produce our food. Natural gas is used in manufacturing fertilizer also.

Now, the debt crises. How can the Republicans “compromise” when the Democrats don’t have a plan of their own besides spending?

Has the President figured out that he can’t vote “present” now? I don’t think so, or he would have plan.

JOHN JUSTMAN
FruitaTea party helped make necessary change

The tea party should be congratulated for changing the dialogue in Congress from how much to spend to how much to cut. Now they need to declare victory and get real. There is no way they are going to get the type of budget package they seek while Democrats control the Senate and the White House.

They need to work towards getting a change in the Senate and the White House in 2012 but they will shoot themselves in the foot if they bring chaos to the financial markets by refusing to accept budget cuts that Democrats are willing to make; cuts which would have been inconceivable before Republicans won control of the House last November.

GEORGE GERSON
Grand Junction
All water is interconnected

A recent Denver Post article regarding the EPA’s desire to extend pollution protection brings up some very important points about the economy vs. environment debate.

We need to recognize that there is one water system in the United States, not a bunch of different, unrelated systems. There’s a reason it’s called an ecosystem – it’s very interconnected – just pull up Google Earth and take a look at all the waterways. Therefore, state regulations alone cannot provide a truly holistic approach; pollution overlooked upstream simply becomes an externalized cost of production – sending the true health and environmental costs downstream.

This creates much larger, more expensive problems – and of course, jobs. But what kind of psychopath would create a mess so that there are jobs to clean it up? This is absurd. We need to give the EPA authority to protect our national water system, as the Clean Water Act intended in 1972.

KEVIN BREWTON
Gunbarrel, Colo.

Dems are never satisfied

The Democrats in Washington, D.C. remind me of my first boss as a professional. I would write something and take it to him for review. He would always say, “Well, that’s not quite right.” No matter what revisions I made, it was always the same answer. I soon learned he was of no help and I was wasting my time.

It is the same with the Democrats. No matter what proposals the Republicans come up with to deal with our overspending, the Democrats always say, “The Republicans need to compromise.” How many times have we heard our two Colorado Senators use that refrain?

The Republicans are wasting their time trying to do business with Democrats who couldn’t even be bothered to pass a budget for 2010 and 2011 when they had a super majority.

We pay the Democrats to do nothing? On second thought, it is better to pay them to do nothing than allow them make things worse.

RALPH G NASH
Grand Junction

Where are the jobs?

I have some questions for Rep. Scott Tipton. First, where are the jobs?

Second, why can’t Republicans get together on a realistic plan? You were elected to represent. No republican has offered even one jobs bill. Where are you? Step to the plate. Its about jobs.

JOHN A. IJAMS
Grand Junction

Revenue is not the problem

Why have a ‘debt ceiling’ if we just keep raising it?

Our government is like a spoiled teenager who spends his allowance buying goodies to hand out so that people will like him, borrows from friends to buy more handouts, and then demands from his parents a bigger allowance every week so he can keep spending and borrowing. There comes a time when parents have to say ‘No more.’ That time is now.

We don’t have a revenue problem. Revenues are high. We have a spending problem and I’m sick of Congress bickering instead of putting the country first and working together to drastically cut spending.

My plan: this year, return to 2008 spending levels. Next year, reduce every department except the military and border control by 10% of that 2008 level. Continue to cut 10% of the previous year’s level every year for the next 10 years.

There are hundreds of programs that should be cut, starting with PBS (why subsidize one channel when now there are 250 more available?); National Endowment for the (often trashy and offensive) Arts; National Endowment for the Humanities; and, the $900 million funding for Obamacare administrative costs.

The Constitution limits the government to owning ‘post roads’ and sites for necessary buildings, but the federal government now owns about one-third of the land in this country. We could save millions of maintenance dollars by selling some federal lands.

Go to http://www.congress.org to find contact info for your elected officials. Then tell them to start cutting now.
ANGIE MANY
EckertWe must support the EPA

I read in “EPA seeks greater pollution control over smaller waterways”, that the EPA has little jurisdiction over many of the smaller rivers and streams in Colorado, leaving them susceptible to pollution by private enterprises. So environmentalists along with many people from the recreation industry took to the streets to gather support from Colorado voters.

They gathered over 20,000 voices calling for stricter regulations. However, the opposition believes that if the EPA were to enforce stricter guidelines it would put an unnecessary strain on the economy.

If businesses aren’t allowed to pollute where they want, jobs could theoretically be lost—this is a short term concern, but the consequences of polluting our waterways are long term and potentially irreversible. Companies must find safer ways to dispose of hazardous materials. We cannot continue to ignore the root of the problem. We must support the EPA’s efforts to protect America’s waterways.